Degree Shows 2019: enjoyable and engaging new work in Bolton, Bath and Bristol

13 June 19

Degree Shows 2019: enjoyable and engaging new work in Bolton, Bath and Bristol

It's all Bs this week for our Instagram degree shows coverage with posts from a-n CEO Julie Lomax at the University of Bolton show, plus Trevor H.Smith at Bath School of Art and Design and UWE Bristol.

a-n’s Julie Lomax kicked off a busy few days of Instagram degree shows posting following her visit to the University of Bolton Creative Show 2019. Lomax officially opened the show ahead of a “really enjoyable” evening speaking to the graduating artists about their work.

For his presentation as part of the Graphic Design show, Hamzaa Valli (above) created “a terrific response to the Every Life Matters campaign” that included a graffiti wall where visitors could post their own reflections and ideas.

Several graduating artists received awards at the launch event, supported by organisations in the Greater Manchester area.

From the Fine Art show, Vicki Jones was awarded a 12-week residency with Neo:GalleryX in Bolton for her work featuring a series of assemblages developed following a 2018 fellowship in Venice that focused around the British Pavilion in the context of the Venice Architecture Biennale.

A show within a show, zacharwhy’s (Zachary William Hunter Young) Curate your own exhibition is a series of miniature three-dimensional gallery spaces; visitors to the Degree Show were encouraged to curate their own exhibitions within the plywood models.

Spike Island is the venue for the UWE Bristol Fine Art/Art and Visual Culture Degree Show, and while visitors are warned CAUTION ART WORK AHEAD by this sign that accompanies Ruby Martin’s transparent inflatable, Trevor H. Smith decided it was safe to proceed and make a series of Instagram posts from the show.

Smith used his final post to discuss the contrasting nature of the Bath and Bristol Degree Shows, explaining that the graduating artists at UWE Bristol are “righteously enraged and politicised, and their work reflects this.

“They embody the independent spirit of their chosen city when they collectively state in their catalogue a desire to create ‘a diversion from stiff institutional structures of quality’.”

“I wrote a lot about the polished aesthetic at Bath School of Art and Design – both of the work itself and also its presentation,” continued Smith.

“That is not to say that the work of these graduating artists is as surface-centric as the city in which they chose to study – far from it.

“Here, within a 15-minute train ride of each other, we have theory-driven work, slick production values, dirty, dystopian visions, and socially conscious work. It is always worth seeing both of these shows.”

Coming next: a-n’s Narbi Price will be posting his highlights from the Newcastle University Fine Art Degree Show, FK McLoone heads to Gray’s School of Art for our most northerly takeover and Jenny Steele will be posting from Manchester School of Art. Follow #andegrees19 for all our Degree Shows posts.

Degree Shows 2019: see the andegrees19 tag for news of openings and Instagram takeovers

Through advocacy and information and from the perspective of artists, a-n’s mission is to stimulate and support contemporary visual arts practice and affirms artists’ value in society.a-n News offers alternative insights into the visual arts, with fast-paced news, comment, debate. www.a-n.co.uk